Method of manufacturing piezoelectric vibrating reed, piezoelectric vibrating reed, piezoelectric vibrator, oscillator, electronic apparatus, and radio timepiece

Abstract

A photoresist film forming process is performed by the use of a forming apparatus that has a sprayer which generates an air flow toward metal film on a wafer to spray the photoresist material, and a plurality of spacers which is disposed between a work stage and the wafer.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-024239 filed on Feb. 7, 2011, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric vibrating reed, a piezoelectric vibrating reed, a piezoelectric vibrator, an oscillator, an electronic apparatus, and a radio timepiece.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]For example, in a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant, in many cases, a piezoelectric vibrator is used which uses crystal or the like as a time source, a timing source such as a control signal, a reference signal source or the like. As the piezoelectric vibrator of this kind, there is a vibrator in which a tuning fork-like piezoelectric vibrating reed is sealed in a package formed with a cavity in an air-tight manner.[0006]The piezoelectric vibrating...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017]According to the configuration, by distributing the air flow generated by the sprayer to the side opposite to the sprayer with respect to the piezoelectric plate, it is possible to improve the air permeability of the piezoelectric plate in a thickness direction. That is, the air flow to be generated by the sprayer passes through the piezoelectric plate, whereby the mask material applied onto the coating film is easily dried. In this case, since the mask material is gradually deposited on the dried mask material, the surface tension of the mask material in the corner of the piezoelectric plate can be reduced, whereby it is easy to apply the mask material to the corner of the piezoelectric plate. Thus, it is possible to evenly form the mask over the whole surfaces of the piezoelectric plate.

[0037]With the oscillator, the electronic apparatus, and the radio timepiece of the present invention, it is possible to provide the oscillator, the electronic apparatus, and the radio timepiece of high quality having excellent characteristics and reliability.

Problems solved by technology

However, in the case of applying the photoresist material by the spray coat method, it is difficult to sufficiently apply the photoresist material due to the surface tension of the photoresist material in corners of the piezoelectric plate, whereby a region is generated in which the photoresist film is thin or the photoresist film is not formed.

In this region, the mask is insufficient when forming the electrodes, and there is a fear that the metal film of the corners of the piezoelectric plate may be etched when etching the metal film.

As a consequence, there is a problem in that the electrodes in the corner may be disconnected, whereby a CI (Crystal Impedance) value is degraded.

However, in the configuration of JP-A-2007-295555, there is a problem in that, there is a need to form a step portion in a separate process after forming the exterior of the piezoelectric plate, which leads to an increase in the number of manufacturing processes, and a decline in manufacturing efficiency.

Furthermore, there is a problem in that the exterior is changed from the piezoelectric reed of the related art, whereby the vibration characteristics fluctuate.

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